Marylyn Dintenfass: Oculus by Driscoll Babcock

MARYLYN DINTENFASS OCULUS

ESSAY

JULIE BAUMGARDNER INTRODUCTION

ALIZA EDELMAN

DR I S CO LL

| BABCOCK

INTRODUCTION Aliza Edelman Oculus is Marylyn Dintenfass’ fifth one-person exhibition at Driscoll Babcock Galleries and presents the artist’s current distillation of organic abstraction to its primary geometric form, the circle. While advancing Dintenfass’ investigation of elemental systems and interconnected modules, an exercise that has continually framed her practice, the series Oculus is also contextualized by and resonates broadly through art historical and architectural time. The circle, whether understood as an eye, a mandala, or an aperture, pushes spatial dimensions within the plane and liberates geometric structure. Viewed collectively or individually, each image in Oculus becomes a concentrated space for contemplation and meditation, a diagram to envision the dualities of one’s bodily and psychic place in the universe. The monumental paintings Oculus. KRONOS, Oculus. GAIA, Oculus. AURORA and Oculus. IRIS (all 77-inches square), for example, evoke collective histories and cultural symbols— ancient and contemporary, spiritual and vernacular—drawn from multiple geographies and sites. Oculus. RODEN, a reference to the volcanic cinder cone crater dating back nearly 400,000 years, expresses a dynamic encounter between terrestrial and celestial realms. A smooth platinum sphere offset by a craggy golden desert centers on a vivid blue orb that is at once inner sanctum and outer cosmos. On a smaller scale, the rapid vibrations emanating from OCULUS. Gravity and OCULUS. Well, respectively, offer the circle’s elastic and indeterminate form. Oculus stems from Dintenfass’ sweeping production of works on paper that captured the spiral’s generative force through the artist’s disciplined and hypnotic circular gesture. Here, as in some of Dintenfass’ previous series including Drop Dead Gorgeous and Good & Plenty Juicy, or her public art installation PARALLEL PARK, color mediates the interplay between light and geometry. A master colorist, Dintenfass’ technical manipulation of Interference pigments (a new application for the artist) directs the surface’s transmission and circulation of light yet maintains the artist’s rigorous use of the underlying grid. Through the painter’s eye, Oculus engages Dintenfass’ continual fascination with the fluid relationships between the universe’s microcosms and macrocosms. Opposite: Oculus. AURORA (detail), 2015, Oil on canvas, 77 x 77 inches , page 17

[SAMPLE FULL BLEED INTRO IMAGE FOR ESSAY]

THE MIND’S EYE Julie Baumgardner Marylyn Dintenfass’ latest series of paintings, Oculus, fully deploys her personalized arsenal of colors—the very lush, vivid, alluring ones she is known for, from her ever-expanding canon—to stretch the expressive limits of the circle, the geometric principle containing the symbolism and potency that has mystified and structured civilizations and societies for thousands of years. In today’s world of constant change, if the meaning of “oculus” seems obscure—after all, many exist in historic monuments in faraway lands or are used metaphorically in virtual reality—it nonetheless exists with telling presence for Dintenfass, whose work revolves around the central theme that “things are not as they seem.” The oculus remains for her a portal of dualities through which to really see.

Circles fascinated the ancients and medieval Europeans—one must only look to Neolithic Asian ritual objects, Stonehenge, or to Christian illuminated manuscripts to find a geometric interplay of circular shapes connoting the presence of holiness. But the all-seeing eye, the opening to the heavens, the circle of light—this geometric principle, which formerly inspired legions of allegories, metaphors and architectural feats, has today become commonplace. Most recently in modernist and contemporary art, the circle may have lost much of its spiritual symbolism in lieu of experimentation of the geometric form. Neo-Geo group artists such as Peter Halley, Ashley Bickerton and Ross Bleckner have stretched the formal limits of shapes. Other painters have positioned the circle as the subject of their explorations—think Bridget Riley and her obsessive

Opposite: Oculus. GAIA (detail), 2015, Oil on canvas, 77 x 77 inches , page 23

Op-Art series of circles, or even Sarah Morris, who uses circular forms to dig deep into the socio-political pathways of urban spaces. Of course, Wassily Kandinsky birthed the modern, expressive perspective of the circle, which he used to free himself of the overly rational constraints imposed by the Constructivists’ universal language of linear geometry.

These days, when is a simple circle anything other than a simple circle? We no longer look at a circle and instinctively associate it with the eye of God, infinity, or the golden ratio. Yet, Dintenfass has never taken the circle for granted, and through her bright, vigorous brushwork, she electrifies the potency of this shape and symbol. “You think this is the painting,” Dintenfass says, “but there is a part that you’re not seeing.” Such is the case with the supple and ethereal Oculus. GAIA, 2015 (pages 4 & 23)—a lime green circle overlaying a translucent cerulean base, imbued with gradations of blues and purples. The edges of the oculus burst to the edges of the canvas—or are the canvas edges dominating the oculus? Given this tension, one might hope to look to color to restore the composition’s harmony, yet almost the opposite occurs. The green is a constant, even if the colors beneath waver in tenacity and opacity. The gradations of these underlying tones of blue never resolve into a singular moment; instead it is the green oculus that stamps the canvas, ensuring both a finality and an infinity.

For the Oculus series, Dintenfass discovered a kind of paint that she had never used before—it is called “Interference,” and certainly the irony is not lost. It disrupts the technique of her painting and the look of the canvas as well. Whether the paint is dry or wet, its tenor remains

Opposite: Oculus. OOLONG (detail), 2015, Oil on canvas, 77 x 77 inches , page 25

consistent. However, Dintenfass warns, just like the name, the paint pushes back. Gazing into the textural variation of the layers beneath the Interference paint reveals its internal vigor. Oculus. OOLONG, 2015 (pages 7 & 25), with its wizardly racetrack of oranges and yellows pacing up and down the canvas’ background, is an excellent example of the artist’s gestural brush and color. The motion of Dintenfass’ brush strokes, almost as ferocious as Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning’s or Gutai founder Jiro Yoshihara’s, supplants the stasis of her translucent purple oculus hovering over the action. Whether or not light is projected onto the canvas, the paint illuminates itself. The light within the Interference purple of Oculus. OOLONG satisfies Dintenfass’ painterly quest to consistently create new ways of using color as a means of expression.

Satisfaction arrives for Dintenfass through color. Her practice is hinged on the ways in which colors work: their internal dialogue and external impact. Her color choices are an entirely intuitive process—in fact, she is blessed with being able to visualize a color and then chases after it—until it is realized. She does not see colors as tones on a chip chart. Rather, Dintenfass sees colors in her mind just as musical composers can hear an entire symphony in theirs. Much like Kandinsky, Fig. 1 SATURATED SCHERZO from Perfect Pitch: Five Chroma Chords, 2011 Suite of five ultra violet etchings, each: 31 ½ x 31 ½ inches The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2012.253.1.1–.7)

who likened his visual compositions to musical ones, there is hardly a more fitting kinship

for Dintenfass than to music (demonstrated by her collaborations with composers including those she befriended at her beloved MacDowell Colony, where she has twice had residencies). She explored colors and circles simultaneously in a 2011 print series titled Perfect Pitch: Five Chroma Chords. Looking at her haunting SATURATED SCHERZO (Fig. 1), it is clear how the relationship between time and experience comes alive in both colors and circles. In the series, she asks “what comes first—color or design?” and the answer is a contradictory duality of neither and both. Seeing a color, hearing a note, the mind holds onto that, creating a condition of ephemerality but also of permanence. The mind, whether naturally or trained, imposes a narrative structure onto the stimuli it receives, a notion of

which

Dintenfass

acutely

aware.

Narrative drives Dintenfass’ compositions. Whether she employs abstracted figurations or pure geometry, a personal story is embedded within each of her images. Every painting is a thread in the plotline of the series. Harking back to previous series, consider Good & Plenty from 2004/5, where Dintenfass’ large-scale canvases are quartered into sections, featuring one or more panels that seems visually like it should not belong. In GOOD & PLENTY: ULTRA BLUE, 2005 (Fig. 2), three square panels of diaphanous lozenge-shape ovals, rendered in a muddled

Fig. 2 GOOD & PLENTY: ULTRA BLUE, 2005 Oil on panel, 48 x 48 inches

mix of tangerine, marigold and red are offset by a fourth, situated on the lower left corner, of ultra-blue and oxblood ovals. The overall experience is a complete one, but as with all stories in life, there is a conflict, or a conceit. Dintenfass maneuvers her narrative through the interplay of colors, evoking the duality at the core of all of life’s experiences—though exactly what agents are at play is up to the viewer to decide.

For anyone to read a painting, there needs to be a decipherable structure or variables to communicate. Dintenfass, over the course of her career, has devised a unique lexicon of marks and images, with the circle always being a major player. As a painter who has been a working artist since the 1960s, Dintenfass declares, “I’ve gone full-circle with this work, which is both textural and organic, but now has a sense of centered, peaceful space.” Dintenfass explains that it is also essential for her as an artist to work within the parameters she has set out for herself. The oculus, as a shape and painterly theme, presents Dintenfass with endless opportunities. As a painter who is consistently inventing new colors and spatial relationships, one might surmise that a simple circle could not hold her interest. Yet quite the opposite is true. Dintenfass finds the shape at once profoundly simple and complex: energizing. The Oculus series has put her in that ideal state of “flow,” where the mind challenges itself uninterrupted. In Oculus. KRONOS, 2015 (pages 11 & 29), it is evident that Dintenfass has achieved her “flow.” Particularly in the physically demanding creation of the 77 x 77 inch canvases (the largest paintings so far in the series), the variations between the paintings are an intellectual and visual achievement.

Opposite: Oculus. KRONOS (detail), 2015, Oil on canvas, 77 x 77 inches , page 29

The subject of the Oculus series further alludes to Dintenfass’ method of working and her inherent referencing of architecture. It is no secret to anyone who has followed Dintenfass’ career that architecture is a touchstone in her work. “In all of these works, there’s always a shape as a profile of a form—the duality of seen and unseen.” That shape, whether a circular form or the highly detailed floral designs from her 2012 series Drop Dead Gorgeous, are all rendered through the same sort of process—a shaped Mylar template, which is a literal and metaphorical architectural component in her work. But Dintenfass also pushes the conceptual limits of these architectural references into physical space. She has created several interior projects including IMPRINT FRESCO, 1985 (Fig. 3), in the New York Port Authority’s 42nd Street Bus Terminal, where she painted upon a ceramic wall relief that functioned as equal parts architectural element, sculpture and painting. She has also created immense installations, as with the 30,000 square foot PARALLEL PARK, 2009 (Fig. 4), in Fort Myers, Florida. In that work, her signature wavy lines were

Fig. 3 IMPRINT FRESCO, 1985 A.R.E.A. Installation Project Port Authority of NY & NJ 42nd St. Terminal, New York City Metallic oxides, polychrome on panel and ceramic 16 x 24 x 10 feet

transferred onto 23 unique screens that covered and articulated the exterior of a five-story car park building. Overall, Dintenfass has created 27 large-scale projects that bridge the gap between architecture, sculpture and painting. It is no coincidence that the word “oculus” stems back to the grand architectural feats of history such as the Panthenon in Rome and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, both of which Dintenfass has visited and cites as totemic icons in her mind. At its essence, the Oculus series is so striking because its subject matter and innovative color are an encapsulation of Dintenfass’ entire oeuvre.

Painters have an inherent drive to translate their perceptions into a physical reality, sometimes with profound implications. Drawing upon her faith in the geometry of the circle—and recalling Plato’s belief that “geometry will draw the soul towards truth”—Dintenfass has willed into existence a bewitching new series in which it would seem her own eye is eternal.

Fig. 4 PARALLEL PARK, 2009 Lee County Justice Center Parking Garage, Fort Myers, Florida Printed on Kevlar material with archival ink 30,000 square feet

Oculus. AURORA 2015 Oil on canvas 77 x 77 inches

Oculus. BITTER SUITE 2015 Oil on canvas 77 x 77 inches

Oculus. IRIS 2015 Oil on canvas 77 x 77 inches Private Collection

Oculus. GAIA 2015 Oil on canvas 77 x 77 inches

Oculus. OOLONG 2015 Oil on canvas 77 x 77 inches

Oculus. RED LAGOON 2015 Oil on canvas 77 x 77 inches

Oculus. KRONOS 2015 Oil on canvas 77 x 77 inches Private Collection

Oculus. RODEN 2015 Oil on canvas 77 x 77 inches

OCULUS. Circuitous 2015 Oil on canvas 24 x 24 inches

OCULUS. Mine 2015 Oil on canvas 24 x 24 inches

OCULUS. Gravity 2015 Oil on canvas 24 x 24 inches

OCULUS. Atoll 2015 Oil on canvas 24 x 24 inches

OCULUS. Eversion 2015 Oil on canvas 24 x 24 inches

OCULUS. Well 2015 Oil on canvas 24 x 24 inches

OCULUS: 53 2015 Oil on paper 15 x 15 inches

OCULUS: 12 2015 Oil on paper 15 x 15 inches Private Collection

OCULUS: 24 2015 Oil on paper 15 x 15 inches Private Collection

OCULUS: 9 2015 Oil on paper 15 x 15 inches

OCULUS: 48 2015 Oil on paper 15 x 15 inches

OCULUS: 27 2015 Oil on paper 15 x 15 inches Private Collection

OCULUS: 5 2015 Oil on paper 15 x 15 inches

OCULUS: 22 2015 Oil on paper 15 x 15 inches Private Collection

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2015

Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York, Oculus

Morrison Gallery ,The University of Minnesota, Morris,

Painted Anthology

2012

Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York, Drop Dead Gorgeous

Flint Institute of Art, Michigan, Auto Biography and Other

Anecdotes

2011

Babcock Galleries, New York, Souped Up/Tricked Out

Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, Edison State College, Fort

Myers, Florida, Marylyn Dintenfass

2010

Babcock Galleries, New York, Parallel Park

2009

Babcock Galleries, New York, Good & Plenty Juicy

2006

Greenville County Museum of Art, South Carolina,

Marylyn Dintenfass Paintings

Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Work in Progress

Franklin Riehlman Fine Art, New York, Recent Paintings

Pelter Gallery, Greenville, South Carolina, Works on Paper

1980

Katonah Museum of Art, New York, Tracks & Traces

1977

Schenectady Museum, New York, Marylyn Dintenfass

1976

Queens Museum of Art, New York, Installation

SELECTED RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2015

Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, Monotypes: Painterly Prints

2014

Gallery 308, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Lists: An international exhibit by artists, poets and writers

Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York, Logical Guesses

S Artspace Gallery, New York, CO EXIST in conjunction with NY Fashion Week

S Artspace Gallery, New York, The Summer Show, curated by The Committee

The Century Association, New York, Professional Painters Exhibition

2013

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, IT’S NEW / IT’S NOW

SELECTED RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS, CONTINUED 2013

Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York, Contained Conflict

Castleton Project and Event Space, Castleton, New York,

Artists Select Artists 2012

ESKFF at Mana Fine Arts, Jersey City, New Jersey, 2 x 2

Babcock Galleries, New York, The American Hand: Sculpture

from Three Centuries

Babcock Galleries, New York, Slipping Glimpses: American

Abstraction, 1920-2010

2011

Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, Connecticut,

Printed by Master Printers 2010

Babcock Galleries, New York, Color Conscious: Chuck Close,

2009

Marylyn Dintenfass, Wolf Kahn, Andy Warhol

Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, New Acquisitions

2008/9 Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Inaugural Exhibition 2007

Babcock Galleries, New York, 3 X 5: Chuck Close, Marylyn

Dintenfass, Alan Gussow, Don Nice, Andy Warhol

Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan, Recent Acquisitions of Works

on Paper

Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, I Want Candy: The Sweet Stuff in American Art (Traveled to Fresno

Metropolitan Museum, California, 2009; Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, 2010)

2006

Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Patz, Museum, Mission and Meaning: Selections from the Collection

Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, Recent Acquisitions: Prints, Drawings, Photographs

Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Art Adored: Icons from the Permanent Collection

Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, Not Gay Art Now, curated by Jack Pierson

2005

Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Collection Directions: Acquisitions in the Twenty-first Century

Franklin Riehlman Fine Art, New York, No Object

Babcock Galleries, New York, Barnet, Close, Dintenfass, Warhol

Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, 2005 Collectors Show

SELECTED RECENT BIBLIOGRAPHY “After Sandy Delays and Fundraiser, Marylyn Dintenfass Show Opens at Driscoll Babcock.” ARTINFO.com, Nov. 20, 2012. “Craftsmanship and Ideas.” Conversation with Glenn Adamson, The EXCELLENT PEOPLE. Winter 2014-2015. Dantzic, Cynthia Maris. 100 New York Painters. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2006. Dintenfass, Marylyn. “It Takes One.” The Cultural Landscape Foundation, 2014. Edelman, Aliza, et al. Marylyn Dintenfass: Parallel Park. Lenox, MA: Hard Press Editions, 2011. Genocchio, Benjamin. “Marylyn Dintenfass’ Powerful New Paintings Are a Life and Death Matter.” Artnet.com, Sept. 16, 2015. Grabowski, Beth & Bill Fick. Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Processes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009. Indrisek, Scott. Marylyn Dintenfass: Drop Dead Gorgeous. New York: Driscoll Babcock Galleries, 2012 (exhibition catalogue). Jovanovic, Rozalia. “Marylyn Dintenfass’ Deadly Blooms.” The Huffington Post, Jan. 18, 2013. Marylyn Dintenfass Paintings. Greenville, SC: Greenville County Museum of Art, 2006 (exhibition brochure). Meier, Allison.“22 Questions with Abstract Painter of the Beautiful & the Deadly Marylyn Dintenfass.” ARTINFO.com, Dec. 30, 2012. Miller, Donald. ”Wheel Estate: Marylyn Dintenfass - Parallel Park.” ARTnews, Jan. 2012, p. 34. “The 100 Best Fall Shows.” Modern Painters Magazine, Sept. 2012, p. 81 (for Drop Dead Gorgeous). “The 100 Best Fall Shows.” Modern Painters Magazine, Sept. 2011, p. 70 (for Souped Up/Tricked Out). Robinson, Joyce Henri, et al. A Gift From The Heart: American Art from the Collection of James and Barbara Palmer. University

Park: Palmer Museum of Art (The Pennsylvania State University), 2013, p. 145.

Robinson, Joyce Henri. Work in Progress: Marylyn Dintenfass. Jackson: Mississippi Museum of Art, 2006 (exhibition brochure). Sandler, Irving. “Marylyn Dintenfass Interview.” Full Res Productions, New York, June 3, 2009. Archived on www.youtube.com. Wei, Lilly, et al. Marylyn Dintenfass Paintings. Manchester and New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2007.

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota

Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi

Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel

Municipal City Hall, Be’er Sheva, Israel

Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University

Musee D’ Art Moderne et D’Art Contemporain, Nice,

France

of New York

The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio

Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy

Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Museum of Arts and Design, New York

Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, Tennessee

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio

New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana

Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio

Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University,

Danmarks Keramikmuseum, Middlefart, Denmark

Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz

State of Connecticut Superior Courthouse, Enfield

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

Tajimi Middle School, Tajimi City, Gifu, Japan

Fitchburg Art Museum, Massachusetts

Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas

The Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan

United States Department of State, Art Bank Program,

Greenville County Museum of Art, South Carolina

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University,

University, East Lansing

Lee County Justice Center, Fort Myers, Florida

University Park

Washington, DC New Brunswick, New Jersey

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts

MARYLYN DINTENFASS OCULUS ISBN: 978-0-9898062-5-1 Publication © 2015 Driscoll Babcock Galleries, LLC Artworks © 2015 Marylyn Dintenfass Authors retain their copyrights All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Driscoll Babcock Galleries. Design: Driscoll Babcock Galleries Printing: Bedwick & Jones Printing, Inc. Photography © 2015 Alvia Urdaneta, except as noted: pp. 42-43 © Stan Narten, JSP Photography p. 8 © Tim Pyle, Light Blue Studio p. 9 © Noel Allum pp. 12-13 © JoAnn Sieburg-Baker 48

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available Dintenfass, Marylyn — Exhibitions Painting — Exhibitions Driscoll Babcock Galleries (New York, NY) 1st Edition Includes biographical references Marylyn Dintenfass is exclusively represented by Driscoll Babcock Galleries 525 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001 +1 212.767.1852 info@driscollbabcock.com www.driscollbabcock.com This catalogue is published to accompany the exhibition Marylyn Dintenfass: Oculus September 10 – October 24, 2015 Cover: Oculus. RED LAGOON (detail), 2015, p. 27 Back cover: Oculus. RODEN (detail), 2015, p. 31 Frontispiece: Oculus. IRIS (detail), 2015, p. 21